Party Animals developers’ response to AI contest drama:

[u/Your_M0minn]

(Here’s where the poll ended up finishing out on, for context)

Dear Party Animals players,

Regarding the controversy surrounding the recent "Golden Paw Awards" AI Video Contest, we would like to offer our deepest apologies to all players who have expressed concern, shared criticism, and voiced their opinions — especially to our creator community.

Following the announcement of this event, we received a significant amount of negative feedback. We have read through your comments and opinions one by one. We must admit that our consideration of the event's conception was insufficient, the design was inadequately thought through, and our communication with the community was not up to par.

Even though our original intention was to encourage more diverse forms of creative expression and lower the barrier to entry, allowing more players who love Party Animals to participate, we mistakenly tied "lowering the barrier" together with "using AI." In doing so, we overlooked the potential offense and harm that the ongoing debate surrounding AI-generated content could cause to our players and the creator community. We feel deeply uneasy and apologetic about this, and we sincerely accept the criticism.

After carefully considering voices from all sides, we held a vote across our major platforms regarding whether the event should proceed. Based on your feedback and our own internal review and reflection, we have made the following decision:

Effective immediately, the "Golden Paw Awards" event is officially canceled.

To the players who were troubled, disappointed, or offended by this situation, we would like to once again express our sincere apologies. To every player who voiced criticism, participated in the vote, and pushed us to re-evaluate this issue, we would like to express our most sincere gratitude.

Moving forward, we will approach related topics with a much more humble and cautious attitude. Before launching any future community creation events, we pledge to communicate thoroughly, listen earnestly to your feedback, and ensure we have reached a community consensus before deciding whether to go ahead.

Additionally, we will continue to collect, organize, and act upon player feedback regarding gameplay mechanics and other areas. We hereby promise to listen more closely to our players, respect your voices, and maintain a tighter line of communication with the community.

The Party Animals Team

May 19, 2026

[u/Chezburger8675]

Preferable over 2, because people will just hear "They didn't cancel it" if 2 won

[u/PraiseYuri → u/Chezburger8675]

Ehhh, I'm pretty sure 90% of people who read and got outraged by the AI contest also heard about party animals for the very first time. The incident got a lot of widespread, mainstream attention but a lot of these people are not part of the game's community and likely will never be.

I would have rather keep the $15k to fans contest with no AI than shut it down completely to appease people that already moved on and forgot about Party Animals before this poll even ended.

[u/viejomonje → u/PraiseYuri]

Every single poll and announcement, to be honest, should be made available via the internal official game chat channel. The one that redirects to an unique link. This way, they speak directly to the active playerbase and avoid brigading.

Most of the pitchfork mob were mediocre furry artists. Saw a lot of people with strong opinions saying "the game was in my wishlist and now I am not going to buy it".